Mother Nature's cycle of life reminds us of the natural order of things

Wednesday

Oct 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM

We stood on the driveway 10 yards from what appeared to be a squirrel, having been hit by a passing vehicle, now still twitching in the throes of death. Upon further examination — not by moving closer, just observing — there appeared to be feathers that were either fluttering in the breeze or indicating there was still some life in a bird who suffered this fate.

We stood on the driveway 10 yards from what appeared to be a squirrel, having been hit by a passing vehicle, now still twitching in the throes of death. Upon further examination — not by moving closer, just observing — there appeared to be feathers that were either fluttering in the breeze or indicating there was still some life in a bird who suffered this fate.

Tiffers, my loyal companion on this walk — a walk we take several times a day for her to do what only dogs should do outside of the house — wanted to investigate up close-and-personal.

Typically, she drags me all over the yard in hot pursuit on the scent-trail of a four-legged intruder — like that pesky, neighborhood cat, the under-the-barn groundhog, some long-legged deer, Peter the rabbit or thinking a brown leaf is a threat. She pulled, but I did not give way. We'd investigate later — maybe.

When later came, no more than 30 minutes, as I was driving out of the driveway, there was no sign of the critter. Either it picked its dazed and bruised body up, brushed off any dirt from the incident and flew away or scampered off into the protection of the trees.

Then I looked up and saw a large fowl soaring into the sky. You know the type — they circle in the air above a carcass on the ground until they feel safe enough to come down and feast on the road kill. Perhaps, and I have no way of verifying this, that monster predator flew down, snatched the recently departed in it sharp claws and decided to move it to another location: a table in the sky.

The cycle of life-and-death in nature oozes design and teeters in a fragile balance.

For example, introduce an exotic animal or plant from another part of the world with no natural predators and you can upset the apple cart, endangering lesser things. Consider the zebra mussel, which has caused extensive damage in the Great Lakes and is spreading throughout North America. Or the African/Asian Snakehead (called Fishzilla by National Geographic), which is now in the USA and, since it is a top-level predator with no natural enemies here in the states, it is a major threat to the other fish. There are other creatures that pose the same danger.

Humans are the worst traffickers, I suppose. We illegally transport something from one part of the world to another, jeopardizing the equilibrium. And what about the diseases we cart from country to country? Daunting when you think about it.

This earth and God's created beings have endured a lot through the millenniums, with ages of heating-up and cooling-down. We were in a time period which some claimed was global warming, but had to change the name to just "climate change," since there's been a period of cooling. Have you read how much the ice caps have grown in the Arctic?

Ah, the ebb and flow of life on planet earth.

Now, if I can get the birds of prey to retrieve branches and leaves from my yard.